The expandable intra-venous catheter for a faster intra-venous fluid challenge generally relates to catheters and more particularly to a fitting that expands. The present invention relates to intravenous needles that may adjust from a low volume to a high volume of flow without replacing one needle with a larger one. The invention relates to a needle of adjusting diameter readily used by medical staff.
The medical industry has a current problem that involves multiple access points for intra-venous fluids to be infused at a high or fast rate which requires the use of a larger bore needle or multiple points of access. The industry follows a current practice that involves the use of multiple sizes of intra-venous catheters, or IV catheters, needed in the delivery of certain lifesaving fluids, medications, and blood products. This current practice thus requires the need to access multiple IV sites during a patient's course of treatment.
Learning from the ancient practice of bloodletting and more modern practices of transfusions and blood typing, medicine has developed techniques for introducing fluids to a patient. The techniques involve connecting an exterior fluid source to the veins of a patient. The blood flow in the veins then distributes the added fluid into the body of a patient. The added fluid may range from saline fluid, medicinal fluid, up to blood products, and to blood itself. The added fluid generally brings therapeutic effect direct to the patient's bloodstream for prompt results. In select situations, the added fluid replaces other fluid lost from the patient because of trauma or surgery.
To add the fluid, medical staff find a vein upon a patient, typically in the arm or alternatively in the leg, apply a tourniquet to aid the visibility of the vein, and then insert a needle into the vein. The needle often has a socket attached to it for connection into a collection vial or an intravenous tube, or IV tube. The socket has one of select sizes and shares compatibility with existing IV tube systems and their abundant fittings. The fittings allow for delivery of added fluid to the patient and to regulate that delivery as to volumetric flow rate.